Winless in seven and Wednesday and Leeds on the horizon – those in power have good reason to be concerned

Forget promotion and all hope of the Premier League. The aspirational target of the playoffs is dwindling away and even the top ten seems a long shot at present.

Those who continually depart with their hard-earned cash to travel across their homeland are watching Norwich capitulate. Home showings haven’t been pleasant viewing either, with a large proportion of City’s fan base pondering as to the scale of garbage they are to be freshly served during that particular sitting.

Winless in seven and with Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United on the horizon, without changes that figure will rise to nine.

Invariably, everything has changed but the angst and frustration continue.

These pages have been filled since August, by myself included, with a plethora of calls for patience and context; all viewpoints I echo wholeheartedly.

I’m not for one moment advocating that Norwich remove everyone and start again, but this is a terrifying sustained run of form and those around the club should be deeply concerned.

It takes only common sense to see that this will take time. Daniel Farke and Stuart Webber continuously work within the constraints of a financial strait jacket – the latter deserves immense credit for the work he has done to diminish the size of an inflated wage structure – but whilst they discuss all hope of the future, there is no short-term outlook on things at present.

This is a complete mess of a side who appear rudderless and simply inept to carry out the philosophy our new head coach.

They clichés come out of course … ‘they lack desire’ … ‘they lack willpower’… but they are not. But they are severely lacking cohesion, guidance and a tactical revamp. Be it big or small.

Norwich will be better off for this long-term planning and the building of a framework for the future is sensible and pleasing, but what about now? Nobody connected with the club is seemingly recognising this team is fragmented and regressing while freefalling towards the bottom three.

We have a left-back with no positional understanding or defensive intelligence due to the fact he isn’t a defender. We have inverted wingers who are restricting the position of James Maddison. We have midfielders who are, by design, told to pass teams into submission but lack the technical quality to do so. And we have a fractured midfield, an ineffective striker and no evident links between the thirds.

Perhaps what is most worrying is this is only a few of the problems.

We are not ruthless or decisive enough with the ball, and not solid or resolute without it.

Hugely broken.

Where is the guile? Where is the ugly resolve this side displayed in games such as Middleborough, Reading and Ipswich?

That second half against Cardiff emulated the abysmal showing at Millwall. Norwich led due to Cardiff not being at the races, but a simple injection of motivation and two offensive substitutions and Norwich were dumbfounded.

All of talk of philosophy was once again blown away but the simplicity of organisation and direct runners. Simplicity vs over-complication.

These reoccurring deficiencies are bound to make Norwich fans agonise. The viewing has been monotonous and the feelings of apathy and being underwhelmed have returned.

Despite the tsunami of discontent amongst supporters pointed towards the boardroom and a lack of change surrounding turgid on pitch performances, the head coach is more interested in bemoaning a refereeing decision, which plastered over Norwich’s inability to defend the initial set piece. Sol Bamba’s header went into the back of the net. Farke’s frustrations are both irrelevant and infuriating.

More infuriating though is the German’s statement that he cannot ‘fault his players’. How about Oliveira’s insistence to shoot from laughable angles, or the lack of steel in your midfield and the lack of defensive shield, Daniel?

I am told I am a blind optimist, but this Norwich side is critically underperforming. They weren’t ever certs for promotion, but neither should they be residing in the lower reaches of this division.

Deadlines can be set and case studies can be used to compare, but the cutting of the cloth and the restriction in which Farke operates are tough.

He had shown initial signs of pragmatism, leadership and astute management both tactically and in the man management of his squad during a hard-working international break, but post-Ipswich these qualities have been less evident.

He hasn’t addressed an unbalanced midfield, a lack of creativity and a drought of goals. And by pinning all hopes on 21-year old Maddison you aren’t allowing him to play freely, but merely weighing him down and pressurising him. He needs a rest.

Wes Hoolahan needs to operate as a number ten or not be in the side at all. He cannot, and as all of Farke’s precursors have learnt, operate efficiently as a wide option. He isn’t someone who is going to contribute to a successful defensive shape and you can’t ask him to be a ball winner in your half and a creator in the other.

The idea of Wes out wide is great in principle but has contributed in him being lacklustre this season.

Farke arrived in NR1 with the reputation of an operator who trusts and develops young players and is progressive. Yet he must return to the pragmatist we witnessed post Millwall or Norwich will be frenetically glancing over both shoulders.

Prove you can manage Farke.

I’m not advocating his removal or resignation, but he must display his ability to evolve and adapt in order to stop this destructive and demoralising run.

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Comments

Totally agree with everything you have stated Connor.
However, this has come about due to our owners intransigence. They fail to appreciate how the game is now a global success and consequently the costs have risen dramatically.
I don’t think anybody could manage a successful Norwich team under the current self financing plan as it’s not fit for purpose.
The owners have received three huge slices of luck under their stewardship and failed to take advantage. Instead they have repeated the same mistakes to the frustration of long suffering fans.
For me naming nephew Tom as their successor has taken away any hope for the future.
The current plight of the club will only be turned around with a huge cash injection, which in effect will mean new owners.
The only viable course of action for the long suffering fans is to withhold renewal of their season tickets as this may force their hand.

Good write, I cannot see how things will improve unless the areas you highlight are addressed, But it would seem Mr F is a little set in his ways, uses the same system that clearly isn’t working, seems he is bordering on being as head strong as the previous incumbent of the seat, and getting just as hot

Yet another good article Connor and pretty hard-hitting too, to use your boxing terminology. Sometimes at Carrow Road I’m reminded of what it might be like for a middleweight to take on a member of the heavyweight contingent – something the BBBC would never allow of course. The Championship is physically demanding. Are we capable of dealing with it? Not at present.

“Destructive and demoralising” is a spot-on description, as is your point about playing Wes out wide. As soon as he drifts in, the gaps appear when he loses the ball and other teams worked this out eons ago. As for inverted wingers, I am not a fan – reference Redmond and Snodgrass.

I feel the next two games are crucial in terms of survival, let alone pushing up the table.

It would be easier to follow the patience route if there were signs of progress however small they may be. You are right about Stieperman he is not a left back and Vrancic is not quite up to the standard required at this level and yet they appear to be first on the teamsheet at the moment. Young players make an appearance on the bench but as yet none have stepped onto the turf. If the so called “stars” are not performing then give the youngsters twenty minutes to bring their development forward. Maybe it is time to set a milestone for the current coaching staff and if they fail…………….? This cannot be the end of the season though because that leaves any replacement no time to assess what is available to work with. The end of January would be my cut off point. I don’t expect a total change in results but real signs of progress. I am afraid this is indeed going to be a long term experiment.

Not sure what to make of this other than Webber must act if we slip further towards L1. He acted after Millwall, much was made about Hanley being bought in and the public were addressed the reason being Webber felt Franke wasn’t up to the task and more ballast was needed.

This time, there appears to be no addressing whatsoever in terms of public coherency.

I wrote in a differenct article that come January, if we slip slide towards the trapdoor then Webber has no choice but to sell a gem to remove Farke and hire someone else. We cannot operate this long term vision from L1, I just hope Webber is less stubborn than the majority shareholders in admitting his mistake in appointing a non-starter from the Bundesliga who’s apparent lack of tactics show no sign of changing.

We lack so much bite it’s ridiculous. I’m just grateful Jamal Lewis appears to be near ready to return, get him on the field, he cant do any worse than Husband or Stiepermann, who alongside Wildschut should be employed as solid attackers working the channels. Allow Maddison, Pritchard or Hoolahan the space in the middle to help whoevers up top.

Good point about communication Hilary. We heard a lot about how to expect all new levels of transparency. That’s easy to say when all is well. When the rubber hits the road and things go awry is always where that falls down.

An interesting read and I agree that some short term solutions are required to fix our current woes. So here goes…..

I’ve said this elsewhere on this forum. My sense of the current winless run is the two key components of the team that made us more resolute defensively post Millwall are both injured, namely Tettey and Trybull. However, what their absence shows is that there don’t seem to be any obvious replacements in our squad, or are there?

There is Harrison Read, but his defensive workload is just too great when the rest of the midfield is filled with technical players, as it was incidentally when we played Millwall. Playing Vrancic as a central midfielder clearly does not work as we saw at Cardiff.

So until Tettey and Trybull return to full fitness, some creative thinking is required by Team Farke.!

A temporary solution is required. So why not partner Russel Martin with Harrison Read? I think he has the discipline to hold his position and not go wandering off up the pitch when we attack and has enough passing ability (tin hat on). And at the moment I think he would be less of a risk than trying one of the U23’s.
If this shores up the team defensively then we can go back to playing the counter attacking style that has been successful for us.

Going forward, Webber clearly needs to get some cover for central midfield or perhaps Ben Godfrey needs for be called back from Shewsbury. I also think he should be looking to start integrating young Abrahams into the first team (we need a striker who knows where the goal is!!)

I am all for the Smiths to hand over the club but would prefer an order departure not a forced out one.
Remember the devil you know is better than the one you don’t caution might seem wrong but an investor that comes in should hopefully want to work along side some of the current board and use their knowledge of the club to help any sort of transition.

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